1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus and an image display method used for retrieving a desired content item such as an image among various images obtained by imaging objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
Imaging apparatus (digital still cameras and digital video cameras) capable of imaging still images and moving images and recording the images in recording media as digital data have widely spread. Recently, as the capacity of recording media increases, it is becoming increasingly common to accumulate a great amount of image data in a recording medium incorporated in an imaging apparatus. As a result, demands have arisen for an effective way for retrieving a desired item of image data from among a great amount of image data.
The invention can be applied not only to images obtained by imaging objects but also to contents. The term “contents” means a collection of information as a whole which can be accessed by people in a web site or web medium. Specifically, contents may include images obtained by imaging objects, music, movies, texts, cartoons, games, and web pages. Therefore, the term “contents” will be used in the following description as a generic term meaning items of information including imaged images as listed above.
For example, there is a method of finding a content item of interest by forwarding and reversing (scrolling) a contents display screen. The content item of interest can be reached more quickly by adjusting the speed of forwarding and reversing. For example, a digital camera disclosed in JP-A-11-355617 (Patent Document 1) employs a pressure sensitive touch panel which allows the speed of forward and reversing to be changed depending on the pressure applied to the same. According to this method, speed adjustment can be carried out using only a forward/reverse button displayed on a screen without displaying a button for speed adjustment separately, which allows effective use of a screen. Further, since the operation utilizes a pressing force which is increased and decreased by a user, the user can use his or her feeling for the operation.
However, the approach involving only forwarding and reversing is insufficient for finding a content item of interest from among a great amount of contents. For example, a user may regard a plurality of content items as collectively forming one unit of information (which may alternatively be referred to as “category” as occasion demands) based on, for example, a shooting date. Categorized groups of contents are sorted according to a certain rule, e.g., the order in which the contents have been imaged or recorded. When a content item of interest is not included in contents having the same date stamp which are currently viewed, it is desirable for most users to move to contents of the next day by a one-step operation. The apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 cannot satisfy such demands.
JP-2005-20070 (Patent Document 2) discloses an approach for retrieval of a desired content item including the step of displaying a screen showing a list of contents of a month on a touch panel. When any of dates shown on the list is selected, the screen is switched to a screen showing a list of dated contents accompanied by reduced images arranged accordingly, to allow the user to select a desired content item from the list.